Covering prep sports - with a child on the team

Go spend a day in a HS classroom abound some of these local heroes and you'll never ever have an urge to cover them.

 

I can't believe four pages later there are still people who can't understand how simple this is -- you can't cover your kids. And if you want to go to your kids games, go as a dad and let someone else write about them.

 

You obviously think every newspaper has 4-20 staff in the sports dept.

 

Zag, in theory you are absolutely correct. Problem is, as discussed at length earlier, not every place has that luxury.

 

You two just want to argue for the sake of arguing. Your argument fails in this instance because there are other writers and other options. This clown just wants to cover his kid and be told that it's ok even though there is a staff large enough and others capable enough to cover his kid. But, to hell with that because that won't fit what he wants to do. The OP is a homer fanboy who wants to cheer on his kid and then write him up in the paper just as he did in his first story.

Again, we are NOT talking about other papers. We ARE talking about this situation specifically. As for other papers, it's still a serious conflict of interest than can be avoided. We all know it and so do you.

 

Doc et. al,

To clarify, I've been reading all the posts... I have no interest in debating you on whether it is optimal for me to be doing it.

1) I certainly didn't come on here to get an attaboy or a pat on back. I knew that posting the situation would open me up to a lot of criticism - and I certainly understand where it is coming from. I made the OP to find out if other people had been through this situation.

2) It was the newspaper's decision as to which school I would cover. The newspaper decided that I would cover the school that I do. They hired me to cover it. If they had decided not to hire me, I completely understand. The newspaper obviously felt that I could handle the conflict of interest professionally. And since this is the fourth time they hired me - I trust their judgement on that matter. I have put ground rules in place to balance out the conflict.

3) I don't see how I could have handled the first game any different. The player in question had a game-winning hit. Another paper in the region actually played it up more than I did. I would have written that story completely the same with different names if someone else would have had that hit. My SE edited and reviewed the piece and felt the same way. Knowing well that I have a conflict of interest, I am trying to cover the team objectively and professionally as possible. That's all I can do. If my son does something that wins a game, I'm going to write about it. if he does something to lose a game, I'm going to write about it as well - just as I will about the other 150 athletes at the high school ....

 

Welcome back. It always helps to here both sides of the story.

Now, let's get back to beating you over the head. ;D

 

I don't blame Racer for taking the assignment. The editor who assigned him to cover his kid's team was the one in the wrong.

 

Hear, as well.

 

So according to the two people who are continuing this argument there are NO ALTERNATIVES at all on a small newspaper staff. There isn't another writer, copy editor, editor, freelancer, copy boy, pool boy -- nobody else in that entire town or operation who can cover one very specific team that happens to have the kid of another writer on it?

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

Show me a staff who can't figure out how to cover one high school team with an alternate person - - not even all of the teams from a high school, just one specific sport -- and I'll show you a newspaper that should close its doors for a lack of creativity and just being generally dumb.

This is not even a debate.

And Racer it isn't what you can or cannot handle it is what it appears like no matter how hard you try to avoid it. The appearance of evil is sometimes worse than the evil itself.

 

Take the stringer money. Leave it to full-timers to debate the ethical ramifications regarding scheduling assignments.

 

man, I'm getting old ... or I maybe I was sleepier than I thought. :-\